We have a driveway with a poured concrete retaining wall that is backfilled up to about 5 feet high. The apex of the wall sisters up to the house foundation. There is a gutter that spans right over this backfilled area but is probably malfunctioning. The cumulative effect is that the wall has started separate from the foundation and bows and buckles, it's displaced about 1 or 2 inches.
If I dig out the soil behind the wall, will it be possible to push the wall back into place with a proper method?
My thought was to built a sort of brace by setting up two-bys on the opposing wall, then placing a piece of lumber between them cut to the ideal length, and slowly, progressively, if needed, hammering it down to apply continuous pressure, adding more as needed, until the wall arights itself. Unlike foundations, it's not supporting any weight above, and without the soil behind it, it seems like it could be "pushed into place.
The plan then would be to chisel out the crack, fill with S type mortar, and revise the gutter with a flexible pipe to drain all the way out to the sidewalk.
Best Answer
Absolutely, but hammering won't work very well with that much mass. You can simply flex a stout board, like a 2x10, downward, then release it. The straightening action will push the wall. Leapfrog a couple of them so that one is always holding position.
A couple caveats: